First Emirates Airbus A350 Emerges

Emirates’ first Airbus A350-900, destined to be registered as A6-EXA, has been spotted after being painted.

The aircraft sports Emirates revised livery and has yet to see its two engines attached; this will come later.

X user @cliper31 (Eurospot) shared the images of MSN684, which will be delivered to the company in the coming months.

Emirates wants to enter the Airbus A350-900 into commercial service in September with an inaugural service to Bahrain. The outlined delivery timeframe doesn’t include any potential unforeseen delays.

Following the first delivery, the Dubai-based carrier forecasts 10 deliveries through 31 March 2025 for the A350-900. As a result, the airline will get accustomed to the new widebody addition fairly quickly.

Inside The Airbus A350

Emirates says the first 10 units will feature three cabin classes: 32 Business Class seats, 21 Premium Economy seats, and 259 Economy Class seats. This configuration is expected to serve the short—to medium-sized cities on the Emirates network.

As Emirates has orders for 65 A350 jets, the configuration of the remaining aircraft has yet to be confirmed. However, the 312 seats featured seem to be what the airline initially sees as a good base. Absent from the A350-900 for the time being will be first class.

First Destinations For The Emirates A350

Emirates revealed the first nine cities welcoming the A350-900 and their corresponding commencement dates several days ago.

• Bahrain daily from September 15
• Kuwait daily from September 16
• Muscat daily from December 1
• Mumbai from October 27
• Ahmedabad daily from October 27
• Colombo daily from January 1, 2025
• Lyon daily from December 1
• Bologna daily from December 1
• Edinburgh is returning to the network on November 4

Emirates sees the Airbus aircraft as the perfect type to continue expanding its route network. The focus will be on more regional and smaller airports that don’t require an aircraft type, such as the A380.

By taking delivery of the A350-900, Emirates will ease further pressure on existing aircraft, such as the 777 and A380. These two types have carried most of the Emirates’ workload in recent history.

The carrier says that as more A350s are delivered, the scope of destinations that will see the widebody will grow considerably. As a result, expect further announcements on more locations.

Notable cities such as Adelaide in Australia, which were touted for some time as the first destination for the Emirates A350, were snubbed. However, with more units arriving, cities such as these are likely to follow.